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Friday, June 20, 2008

North Korea the Internet's Biggest Black Hole

The depth of the digital divide separating North and South Korea is difficult to overstate. The organization "Reporters Without Borders" reports that North Korea is the biggest black hole in the internet. The accompanying graphic was commissioned by that organization to visually represent the countries that are the world's biggest enemies of the internet and the free flow of information through it.
Another graphic appeared in the local press today, presenting data compiled by the Ministry of Unification, on the number of North Koreans defecting to South Korean annually over the past decade. I think it provides some interesting additional context for the digital divide on the Korean peninsula.